Monday, May 16, 2016

Wayne
Thiebaud is a painter and printmaker from the Pop Art era who takes objects
and ideas from popular culture, along with other known artists like Andy Warhol, and inverts them in his
own way.Though Wayne Thiebaud and
other Pop artists like Warhol were contemporaries, their work draws very
different visual experiences of often similar inspirations.While Warhol sought to flatten objects with
uniformity and a methodical detachment from his work, Thiebaud uses thick
impasto in his paintings as well as different layers in his printing to create
a feeling of depth and personal touch.

One piece that illustrates this point is
Thiebaud’s Dark Cake from 1983.Though many have believed otherwise,
this work is actually a woodcut printed with water-based inks rather than
traditional oil-based.This gives
the cake the appearance of a moist exterior, almost dripping down to the
plate.The cake’s layering of
color and use of color to frame the shadows and edges helps create a strong
three-dimensionality and a painterly feel.In contrast, works by Warhol are often screen-printed using
flat plains of color layered in flattening way.Warhol and his followers sought to take away the human
element and create a detachment between themselves and their works.His workshop was even named “The
Factory.”

Another
work that highlights this difference is in how the two artists dealt with the
iconic character of Mickey Mouse in their works.While Thiebaud painted Mickey Mouse’s head onto one of his
signature cakes with a thick impasto, Warhol made prints of Mickey Mouse with a
cool detachment.Thiebaud’s use of
the Mickey character is not surprising since he had worked previously with
Disney in production, but his painting depicts Mickey in a more personalized
way, traditional to the character.Warhol rendered Mickey in a flatter way, using blacks and greys to create
a colder, unfeeling character.Though he often said his work did not have meaning, the piece can be
read as showing the coldness of the fame “industry” and how the character
itself does not hold any physical substance, it is only an image on the surface
of the canvas.

This exhibition will continue at the University Art Museum until 5/29/16

Henry Klein is a printmaker and art
dealer who represents many printmakers from Eastern Europe.He is also a very good story teller and I
found it quite interesting listening to him discuss printmaking during the
turbulence of Eastern Europe and how their approach is different to that seen
in America or Western Europe.

Jiri Anderle etching

In
listening to Klein discuss art and his experiences, it is clear he has had a unique
and more worldly perspective.He was in
the Czech Republic setting up a show during the time of the Velvet Revolution.
The show had to be put off for a year due to these events. When Klein
participated in previous Biennials, he noted that the winners were always from
the Czech Republic. He attributes this to the fact that many Eastern Europeans read
books, and the illustration of books was taken very seriously.Czech printmakers would use these
illustrations and their training from such projects to create large pieces that
had an immense amount of detail throughout.

I
also really enjoyed seeing the collection of “funny money” prints by Oldrich Kulhanic. The fact that
Klein has one of if not the only full set of these prints was quite
impressive.I liked the fact that the
prints themselves were so ornately illustrated, and that they all had their own
subtle criticism …the more you looked and the more Henry Klein explained, the
more appeared.

Oldrich Kulhanic lithographs

There were also other excellent contemporary
prints.Ingrid Ledent is a Belgium printmaker
Klein represents with a more modern style.She uses her own body as a measurement of time and does many prints
based around her own body.

print by Ingrid Ledent

My
own personal favorite was titled The
Parable of Noah by the Russian artist Nikolai Batakov. He spent a
year printing this large work full of detail.This work is the style I find intriguing which shows how much detail and
shading is really possible with the medium of etching.

I
would say the event was more than inspiring.Not only did it leave me wanting to immediately go incise lines into my
plate, but it contrasted sharply to the feeling of tedium I get when I listen
to presentations about graphic design. I would say that seeing these prints and
what was possible as possibly the straw that broke the camel’s back and made me
decide to switch fields of study.

More information on these artists can be found at Henry Klein's website: www.kleinprint.net